from Octomotor

My Sunday experience today included the weekly gathering of Caring Citizens after the church service.

This group envisions that the communication and use of progressive values & visions which were held by founders of USA can aid the solution of many contemporary ills. Empathy for others is a major ingredient. See website, www.enpathysurplus.com, and publications authored by George Lakoff, including the one titled, _Thinking Points_

Also, one of the participants in the Dayton Ohio portion of the “Occupy Wall Street” protest action attended our Caring Citizens gathering today. Afterward, the path from church to my afternoon activities led past their Courthouse Square site. Their counter marked 22nd day of this public oriented protest effort. Their signs indicate web site,

www.occupydaytonohio.org

Today during early Sunday afternoon, some music was being performed. Some individuals were playing guitars, drum, and singing songs such as the one which states, “This land is your land, … is my land … it belongs to you and me”.

Hence I was reminded that likely this was the same weekend as the yearly Fri. – Sun. musical event in Columbus Ohio called Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OHVFF). It features music on themes of science fiction, fantasy, political satire. It has traditional European & USA folk music as well.

At OHVFF, often addressing the topics reflective of dissident mass political movements, are likely to be the composers / singers Kathy Mar and Lesley Fish. Both are veterans 1960’s hippy era songsters.

on web page, http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/fall2011/innovation-starvation

Neal Stephenson wrote that there are . . .
‘those who have no sympathy that an affluent, middle-aged white American has [lived to not see] his boyhood fantasies fulfilled’.

Ones lacking that sympathy could be from the viewpoint of either those persons in the first world’s economic top most layer, or some of those among the very vocal spokespersons for the social justice and green politics causes. (The affluent middleclass oriented open society idea now has significant critics, though I dissagree with them.)

I will mention a song by F&SF themed song writer / singer Berry Child Helton a few years ago. It expressed a similar idea. The title is “Monorail from Atomland”. It told of his regret for the situation in which the optimistic science fiction tales, published during the 1950 – 1960’s, depicting the historical era we now inhabit as a time and place for the kind of technical, social, and economic progress, which could lead to widening benefits of liberty and economic prosperity for most people, did not come to pass. Rather, we now do not have inexpensive energy, opening access for many people into settling interplanetary space, excellent terrestrial transportation, and perhaps even anticipatory democracy. He, along with his wife Salley, who is also talented musically, likewise have been usual attendees of OHVFF.